All posts tagged reforms

The International Monetary Fund may soon take a thorough look at Egypt’s economy for the first time since its revolution in 2011, potentially paving the way for greater cooperation on President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s reform agenda and renewing talks about long-delayed IMF financing. Read More »

Qatar is pledging labor-law reform in response to what critics have called systemic exploitation that traps thousands of foreign workers in low-wage jobs and squalid living conditions. Human rights groups however said the moves fell short of full protection for migrant workers, given the lack of a timeline for passage and lack of clarity on enforcement. Read More »

The fallout from the Syrian war continues to weigh on Lebanon’s economy and fiscal stability with long-needed structural reforms now more challenging to implement, an International Monetary Fund mission visit to the country found after routine consultations with local authorities.

A political impasse “has amplified the microeconomic imbalances,” a mission report summary said, in a country with one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world. Here are some of the key conclusions from the IMF mission visit. Read More »

The Institute of International Finance (IIF), a Washington, D.C.-based organization representing the global financial industry, estimates that gross domestic product growth in the Middle East and North Africa will remain at around 3.4% in 2014. But that figure masks the increasing divergence between the region’s buoyant oil exporters and those countries affected by the Arab Spring unrest such as Egypt. George Abed, director of the institute’s Middle East and Africa department, shares his views with the Wall Street Journal on some of the region’s most pressing economic topics. Read More »

Saudi Arabia is reporting some of the first big job gains out of its ambitious overhaul of the kingdom’s private sector. But some Saudi employers are charging the main beneficiary is the infamous “fake” Saudi worker, drawing a salary purely to satisfy government quotas. Read More »

The United Arab Emirates needs to revise energy subsidies and could target expatriates to help reduce domestic consumption and curb its growing bill for gas and refined fuels, according to the country’s energy minister.

“Why do we subsidize if people continue to consume at high levels, especially expats? We are subsidizing expats more than the subsidies they have or the prices they pay in their home countries,” Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Abu Dhabi this week. “You will find expats consuming three times more than what they consume back home. Why? Because it is so cheap here.”

The second-biggest Arab economy is currently bearing nearly 85% of the power and water production costs for Emiratis and 50% for foreigners, who make up about 90% of the population, being the biggest beneficiaries of subsidies that squeeze state coffers. Read More »

Saudi Arabia’s morality police is considering relaxing the kingdom’s strict rules on closing shops and businesses during Muslim prayer times in a bid to improve the image of the force, but for many Saudis the proposal is nothing more than a cosmetic change.

“At the moment you have some places that close for 45 minutes for each prayer, which impacts both the businesses and the customers…we want to regulate the closing timings to change this practice,” Mr. Sheikh said. “We are looking at having certain closing timings for each city and if needed the workers can pray where they work in a group rather than spending more time walking to their nearest mosque.” Read More »

Iran’s new government is serious about tackling the country’s economic woes and is formulating plans around subsidy reform and counteracting the depreciation of the currency, the International Monetary Fund’s regional director said.

An IMF team is set to visit Iran in the first quarter of next year as world powers draw closer than they have been in decades to a deal that would curtail Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions against the country. Hassan Rouhani, who was elected Iran’s president in August, is spearheading the effort to improve relations with the West.

“It’s early days, but in the limited interactions we’ve had with [Iran’s new government], they seem to be very clear that they do have a set of issues they need to tackle, and they’re beginning to form plans to do so,” Masood Ahmed, the IMF’s director for the Middle East and Central Asia, said on Tuesday. “I hope by the time we go there next year, we’ll have an opportunity to interact with them on those plans and offer any inputs we can.” Read More »

The €1 billion in aid given to Egypt by the European Union over the past seven years has been virtually ineffective in combating the country’s endemic corruption and human rights violations, according to an assessment by the European Union’s Court of Auditors.

Evaluating the aid’s impact on key areas of governance in Egypt, the report found that even after Egypt’s 2011 uprising new governments have done little or nothing to improve democracy, budget transparency or human rights– all key issues that propelled the revolt against ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.

“The ‘softly softly’ approach has not worked, and the time has come for a more focused approach which will produce meaningful results and guarantee better value for the European taxpayers’ money” Mr. Karel Pinxten, the ECA member responsible for the report said in a statement. Read More »